As the Internet has matured, the number of products and services that have been made accessible via the Internet, as well as the number of users accessing these products and services has increased. Users may be accustomed to using the Internet to access the products and services of certain legitimate entities with which the users are familiar. Consequently, unscrupulous and/or malicious parties may use (e.g., by impersonating) the brands with which users identify these products, services, and legitimate entities for various malicious and/or illegitimate purposes (e.g., Internet-based impersonation scams and attacks). For example, phishing websites may impersonate legitimate websites using the trusted brands of the legitimate websites (e.g., for the purpose of stealing confidential information from the legitimate websites' users). In another example, malicious applications may pose as applications of legitimate entities using the trusted brands of the legitimate entities (e.g., for the purpose of gaining access to confidential information stored on the computing devices to which the malicious applications are installed).
Various technologies exist that may protect end users from encountering some Internet-based scams and attacks that are perpetrated using the brands of legitimate entities. Unfortunately, these technologies may do little to protect brands or brand holders. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for handling fraudulent uses of brands.